Thursday, January 14, 2016

Tonight's Sky for January 14: Edmund Halley Dies (1742)

It was on this
date in 1742 that English astronomer Edmund Halley, best known for
predicting the return of the comet that now bears his name, died at
age 85.

Born on November 8, 1656, Halley had an interest in
mathematics and astronomy at an early age and published his first
scientific papers while still an undergraduate student. Appointed
assistant to the Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory in
1675, Halley traveled to the St. Helena and was so instrumental in
mapping the Southern sky that he became known as 'the Southern Tycho'
in tribute to the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, whose work
marked the pinnacle of pre-telescopic astronomy. However, it is for a
comet that Halley would be remembered.

Looking
through astronomical records, Halley noticed that there seemed to be
a pattern to sightings of a Great Comet, namely that one was seen
every 76 years. Using the past to predict the future, Halley
theorized that these several comets were, in fact, a single comet
returning every 76 years. Halley then boldly predicted that a great
comet would be seen again in 1758. Unfortunately, Halley before he
was vindicated.